Sub-races

[Desdichado]

What's everyone's opinion on sub-races? Do you like'em? Not? Do you wish humans had 'em? Do you wish nobody did?

 

[Olive]

I like them for demihumans, but for humans i feel... uncomfortable

 

[Desdichado]

Why do you like them, then? Personally (since I didn't answer it) I like having subraces for options, but when it comes time to build a campaign world, I only pick one (at most two) and call it a day. For instance, I might decide that elves are really wood elves, not high elves, but that'd be the only kind of elves available in that case.

 

[drdevoid]

If the campaign had a heavy accent towards one or two races (i.e. Gnomes and Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings, Halflings/Gnomes and Elves) then I think subraces could be fun. But if you have your classic U.N. of fantasyland, having to roleplay all the PC/NPC interactions along the racial spectrum could be a nightmare if one assumes there are prejudices and a pecking order. I don't own FRCS so I may be overlapping these, but think about it:

Elves- High/Moon, Gray, Wood, Wild, Sun, Sea, Drow, half-human.
Dwarves- Mountain, Shield, Duergar, Derro, Deep
Halflings- Tallfellow, Lightfoot, Ghostwise, Stoutheart
Gnomes- Forest, Svirfneblin (Deep), Rock

I may be missing a few too, but it just seems a bit too much already. Maybe one subrace per race if the players really push for it.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I think of subraces much like human cultures that have been exaggerated to a genetic difference, or perhaps more like a breed of dog, or cat.

There's a huge difference between a terrier and a doberman...this difference would be a "subrace," I'd think.

So for humans...you can perhaps have pygmies. Or maybe creatures that have lived underground for a while.

For other races, the same cultural and environmental differences reign...

I generally would limit what the PC's belong to based on where the campaign was starting or going. Probably no jungle dwarves in the arctic wastes, for instance...

But I use the "basic" races (high elves, hill dwarves, lightfoot halflings, rock gnomes, orcs) as the universals...

That's...pretty much it.

 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

I like sub-races. I've always been particularly fond of the elven ones. Some one really needs to bring them back in a big way.

 

[Desdichado]

I like sub-races. I've always been particularly fond of the elven ones. Some one really needs to bring them back in a big way.

Have they ever been gone? The DMG/MM has almost half a dozen elven subraces. FRCS adds to that (although a lot of that is "rebadging" rather than truly unique subraces.)

 

[Terraism]

I've never been a big fan of demihuman subraces, actually - there're already so many different one's to begin with, and they've all got their own twists. On the other hand, with more human campaigns - where the majority, if not all, of the playable races are human - I like having subraces. I still stand by the fact that humans are pretty darn diverse, and some societies do have some pretty general differences.

 

[Tonguez]

I Hate them and don't use them

This means that Wood Elves and Mariner Elves are genetically identical however Mariner Elves have lived on huge raft-islands for centuries and so get a different Cultural FEAT

It also means that High Elves are a different race entirely (Sidhe imc) as are Aquatic 'Elves' - they are just refered to as Elves in the common venacular

 

[Quickbeam]

Not to sound like I don't have an opinion, but I'm rather ambivalent on the subject. Overall, I just let group majority decide this topic for our campaign.

Sorry for not adding anyhting of worth to the discussion .